The Man without Gravity

The Man without gravity (L’uomo senza gravità)

This was one of those film suggested by my algorithm on Netflix (one of the few times it got it really wrong!). I decided to watch it without knowing anything about it, but after about 20 minutes I really had to resist the urge to turn it off. The temptation to give it 1 star was even bigger, but in the end I felt a bit sorry, not just because it’s an Italian film and I feel a sense of loyalty towards my own country, but also because there are probably a couple of sweet moments in it which made me think that actually its heart at least was in the right place. Also, after a dreadful first act, it does get a tiny bit better.

The very first image of the baby fling like a balloon out of her mother’s womb was actually rather intriguing … but then they all began to speak and the spell was broken: it was all downhill from there. I was absolutely shocked by how bad the acting was during the first act: everyone one seems to have stepped into a read-through session at its best and they’re all either over-acting or not acting at all (and I don’t meant that in a good way). If you are watching this subtitles (i.e. if you don’t speak Italian) you might get away with it and think it’s probably OK, but as an Italian there no any of that can pass as “decent”, let alone “good”. It is actually quite embarrassing.

The kids are dreadful and make you wish you were watching one of those nativity plays at school instead and most of the adults are not just over-acting their socks off, but each of them seems to have a different register as if they were on different films.

Once Elio Germano finally steps in (much too late as far as I am concerned… I was already tuned off by that time anyway) at least you know you can rely on a half decent lead… If only the script were a little bit smarter and the direction slightly less pedestrian and more imaginative.

Unfortunately as it is, this is just a half baked idea, with the little potential it could have had completely wasted.